The Temple’s Interior

(2 Chronicles 3:5–9)

14 So Solomon built the temple and finished it. 15 He lined the interior walls with cedar paneling from the floor of the temple to the ceiling, and he covered the floor with cypress[fn] boards.

16 He partitioned off the twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place.[fn] 17 And the main hall in front of [this room] was forty cubits [long].[fn]

18 The cedar paneling inside the temple was carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; not a stone could be seen.

19 [Solomon] also prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the LORD there. 20 The inner sanctuary [was] twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid [the inside] with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar.[fn]

21 So Solomon overlaid the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chains[fn] across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold. 22 So he overlaid with gold the whole interior of the temple, until everything was completely finished. He also overlaid with gold the entire altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.